A Reflection

As a Georgetown University student I am becoming more and more appreciative of the mission and values that are the foundation of all program offerings.  These nine values are outlined in the Spirit of Georgetown, one being Contemplation in Action.  Increasing self-awareness and spending time on reflection is essential to success in the MPS PR/CC as well as in life in general.

What I like most about blogging is that reflection is prevalent in many posts, as well as educating the public, and really making a difference in the readers lives.  It was encouraging each week to think about my life, the food I was eating, what I was learning in each of my classes, and most importantly, what I was learning about the Social Media Realm.  I am much more confident compared to a few months ago when considering blogging and social media, and blogging as made a lasting impact on my perception of joining online conversations.

Although impactful, blogging had its challenges.  The most challenging aspect – time and content!  It was challenging remember to take time to blog during the week.  Thinking back I really should have scheduled a time to blog, and as I’ve recommended to area nonprofits, I should have created an editorial calendar.  The time also became an issue when I wanted to blog about a different food truck each week, yet didn’t have enough time to even go to lunch!  I would say if I were to do it over again I would have selected a more sustainable topic.  Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t given up on trying out new food trucks – I just may not write about them.

Blogging can be incredibly effective if done right.  If someone has the time to commit to posting, and has a creative voice, I would say they should blog!  Do I have that commitment and voice?  I’m not so sure.  I do know that when I start to focus on branding myself as a Cause Consultant, I will create a website and be sure to have a blog.  What I do know however is that it will be several months from now – I know that if I tried it’d just end up being one of those neglected blogs that never see the light of day.  And really – if my name is going to be on something, I should really take time to plan it out and have a purpose before I try tackling a newly created blog.

For now I’ll just stick with focusing on increasing my brand awareness on Twitter – so Follow me!

Food Truck Fiesta!

Food Truck Fiesta (FTF) is a great resource for food truck lovers in the DC area. This blog tracks all of the food trucks in the area and provides a daily map of where to locate each of the trucks!  Considering the variety of food trucks people have to choose from during the short lunch hour, FTF does a very nice job at laying out all of the options.  They are also great at linking within their site which allows their readers to find most of the information they need.  When the readers are on a description page about a particular truck they can access the truck’s website, twitter feed, Facebook, and menu, which makes following these food trucks even easier.

FTF has an awesome Blog Roll that includes several DC restaurant blogs as well as the DC Food Truck Association and allows readers to really know what FTF finds interesting within their online community.  One thing this blog does exceptionally well is being descriptive not only with their written descriptions but also with their pictures.  They’ll post pictures of new trucks, events, fliers, people, and food.  It’s a great place to come for all of the daily or weekly news surrounding the DC Food Truck community.

The site appears to be a trusted site within the community and their Twitter account has over 8,900 followers that continues to grow daily.  Although they have a large following, their blog entries are not always engaging. It does not appear they get many comments on their blogs, but they also are not often written in a way that encourages conversations.

FTF has now also started a consulting business to assist and give guidance to entrepreneurs who want to start a new food truck business. The way that blogs can take on different forms and start making helpful impacts on the community and society as a whole, says a lot about the people behind the posts.  It’ll be interesting to see what FTF does for the DC food truck community, as well as their online blog community that exists within the food and food truck sphere.

 

It’s Time for Pie!

In my opinion, Thanksgiving is the best week of the year.  Sure, Christmas is a lot of fun, especially the week between Christmas and New Year’s because for the last several years I’ve been fortunate enough to not have to work that week.  But Thanksgiving, it just has this comfort to it that can sometimes be lost in all of the bustling around during the Christmas holiday.  Thanksgiving is the week when everyone just seems happier!

Now is the time when Christmas shopping lists are being created, and everyone is excited for the shopping season to begin! People are reminded of what they are really thankful for, and are excited about spending time with their friends and family. Although all of these things are important, one thing holds true for Thanksgiving more so than most other holidays. The freedom to gorge yourself with all types of food from rolls, turkey, stuffing, and most importantly, pie.  Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without pie.

New Around Town is currently one of my favorite blogs.  Considering that I feel as though I’m often ‘new around here’ – I love reading about everything that is going on around DC!  The author, Allie Fischer, has this calming way of writing that makes me feel like although DC is a big city, it really can have a small town feel.  A few weeks ago Allie posted a blog about Thanksgiving Comfort, and although I thought it was interesting that it was no where near Thanksgiving, I loved it! Of course I would love it – she talked about bread, and pie!

Thinking about bread and pie makes me happy. And before you ask, yes, I’m getting to the point of where this connects with food trucks. Don’t just take my word for it, seriously, go out today and try Dangerously Delicious Pies.  They have the most amazing piece of pie that I’ve ever had. I’ve been waiting for them to be in close enough proximity so that I could enjoy a piece of pie over the holiday, but it hasn’t happened quite yet.  Until then, perhaps I’ll just follow a recipe provided by Allie to bake a delicious loaf of Cranberry Orange Nut Bread – considering of course I couldn’t do pie justice after enjoying that piece of pie from Dangerously Delicious Pies.

Music makes the world go round!

I’ve been thinking a lot about music lately, and have had some really great conversations involving the emotions that are come through depending on what type of music is playing.  It made me start thinking about the music I hear when I’m eating at different places.  I love the restrooms in the Macaroni Grill because I always learn at least one or two new words in Italian.  Okay, sure, they aren’t singing – but it’s still fun to listen to!

So as I was visiting a few food trucks this week I realized that some are playing happy peppy music, and others aren’t playing any at all.  I didn’t have time to really think about the reasons behind not playing music, but they either are trying to really focus, or maybe they just forgot to turn it on.

What does this all have to do with anything?  The music of Truckeroo of course!  I know that Truckeroo is over for the year, sadly, but what I haven’t been able to really talk about was the bands that were playing.  Not only do the 20+ trucks all come together – they are joined by a collective ambiance of music and fun.  Music is what makes the world go round, and all you need is music – not just love! (Who doesn’t love the Beatles?)

Next time you’re at a restaurant, take some time to really consider what music is playing.  What type of mood are they trying to set?  Perhaps they want you to be happy and dance! Or maybe it’s softer and quiet with the goal of creating a romantic atmosphere.  If the bands at Truckeroo played softer more romantic music, I wonder how many people would continue to stand in the line for the Takorean tacos.  Would you wait in the line?  Or are the loud fun happy music being played in the background encourage the consumers to stay longer and buy more?

Best App for Blogging

We all know how addicting apps can be.  Or if you don’t know,you should really get a smart phone because apps are amazing.  The jokes that say, “there’s an app for that” are funny because of how true it is!   I often hear people say that they don’t know how anything was accomplished before the internet, yet I take it one step further: I have no idea how most things were accomplished before apps came along!

If you have been to a food truck lately, and I hope you have, you have been seeing the Square a bit more often.  The fancy square is a little card reader that is paird with an application that can take credit card payments through a smart phone!  How amazing is that?  Our amazing food trucks would have a challenging time existing and thriving without them.  I mean, people are eventually going to get tired of seeing that “Only Cash” signs, especially now that other apps allow people to just touch their phone to a machine and buy a coffee.

I am however not going to focus to much on the Square.  As cool as it is, there is one other app that should be recognized when considering the importance of apps as they relate to blogging about food trucks.  Any guesses?  For those of you who guessed the WordPress App – you’re right!  It is my new best friend.  If you haven’t downloaded this app and started using it yet, you need to catch up.  The best part isn’t that you can read your blog your comments, or write and post a blog right from the app.  No, it’s the amazing function of the Photo Button!

The Photo Button helps the users post pictures super fast.  If you have more than one blog through WordPress – no worries, you can add multiple accounts, and there is still one Photo Button!  After clicking Photo, you select if you want to take a picture or choose a picture from your phone library and you take or select the picture!

The next screen displays the photo in the top right corner and on the left side you can type your title, and also write either a caption, or much more – depending on your preference.  Once you’ve written until your heart’s content, you can select the blog you want it to be posted to and cluck Publish.  That’s it!  You’re done!

Sure, there may be a few things I’d change about this app but I’m hopeful they change those in upcoming updates.  This app is an essential for any blogger whose blog is on wordpress – no matter the topic.  It is however a dream come true for a food blogger – it’s so much easier to automatically post a picture of the delicious meal you’re about to consume!

Happy Blogging and Eating!

Starving in Waiting Rooms

Recently I spent a week in waiting rooms in Rochester, MN.  Do you know what is not in waiting rooms? Good food.  I was deprived of the deliciousness of food trucks for a week and I really started appreciating the variety that trucks have to offer.  While I was in these waiting rooms Truckeroo took place and there was an even bigger crowd than last time.  It was disappointing having to miss the last Truckeroo event until next June!

Also while in these rooms I also missed out on TruckerBoo!  This was the first year I had heard of this event, but it looked like quite a bit of fun!  While I was eating a hospital cafeteria salad, my friends were all enjoying the variety of more than 20 trucks all decked out in holiday gear!  Food Truck Fiesta captured several pictures of the trucks and kept everyone updated on the status of the event throughout the night.

Hour after hour I dreamed of Hula Girl’s Teriyaki Steak Salad while eating bun-less cheeseburgers for the first time.  My sister and I had quite a bit of time to talk in these waiting rooms, so we decided we’d join the bandwagon and give up carbs!  Even the Huffington Post linked to an article about how a low carb diet can keep people from getting sick.  And although I’ll be healthier now, it may make locating food trucks that I’ll actually be able to enjoy a little more difficult, but I’m up for the challenge.

Over-all my experience in the Rochester Waiting Rooms was time well spent.  Even though I was away from the trucks for a week, I was able to build stronger relationships with my family, and I was about to really start to think about what types of food I’m going to be hunting down from these trucks now.

So now that I’ll be critiquing carb-free food from around DC, I may need a few suggestions as to where to start.   Join in and leave a comment on where the best places to eat are – food trucks as well as other restaurants!  Pretty sure I could use all the help I can get!

Lobster Rolls!

When I began this blog I started out with a big question – Lobster Rolls or Korean Tacos?  I have to admit, I’ve been trying t try the tacos but I have had no such luck.  I have however had the lobster rolls (3 times) and they are quite enjoyable.  Considering my enthusiasm for sandwiches, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I am a huge fan of Serious Eats – Sandwhich a day blog.  Today the

September 30, Erin Zimmer posted a blog entitled: A Sandwich a Day: Lobster and Crab Roll from Harraseeket Lunch in South Freeport, Maine.  After reading Zimmer’s description I want to travel to Maine today to try these lobster rolls. She said that “the $14 lobster rolls are served on the classic New England split-top bun, brushed with butter and griddled so the outside gets crisp while the interior is soft and steamy. The sweet lobster lumps piled inside aren’t dripping with mayo, thankfully; just enough to keep it all together. It’s a fresh, unfussy roll served in an idyllic outdoor setting that’ll make you feel like you’re in a postcard from the Vacationland state.”

I’m not normally a fan of mayo on lobster rolls, and when thinking about DC’s very own Red Hook Lobster Pound food truck I am much more excited about trying the sandwiches with mayo.  Traditionally in the past I have only had the rolls soaked in butter.  I mean, who can resist butter soaked anything?

As I continued reading this article that was making me want to check Twitter immediately to locate @LobstertruckDC, I came across this picture (courtesy of Zimmer):

Other than it being on a hotdog bun rather than a toasted roll, it looks amazing.  I am pretty sure they took that lettuce off though – does it really add much of anything?

I’m looking forward to being able to read more about these daily sandwich quests and am certainly going to track where they are located.  I see a food road trip ahead in my near future.  Anyone care to join?

Salad from Hula Girl

Testing how this works.

A Bit More Personal

Have you ever watched a movie and for whatever reason something that someone says just stays with you?  A year later you can’t remember anything about the movie, except that one line still comes to mind during the right situations?  This tends to happen to me more often that it should – but there are three phrases that I hear in my head at least once a week:

“This is by far the coolest thing I’ve ever done in this city.”

“Super duper excited!”

“I can be surrounded by a sea of people and still feel all alone…”

DC makes me feel like this third sentence all the time and I’ve illistrated it below.   This poor shark is just trying to make a friend but as she swims around all the smaller fish move out of the way.  They all know she is there, but are too afraid to think she isn’t going to just eat them.  (sure, she probably would, but this is an analogy, so go with me on this)

The online community however creates a different feel.  Blogs and other social media create conversations and can give people a sense of belonging.  People share pictures and instantly you are put into thier life for a moment.  No longer are you just wandering around aimlessly, you have specific places online you can go to for specific information, games, laughter, and anything else you can imagine.  It connects friends and family living miles apart, and connects old friends and new friends, and can help to feel a possible void.

So although I may have felt alone in the huge crowd at Truckeroo (pictured below), my new Food Truck / DC Foodie friends help me feel more included, and really a part of something much bigger than just myself.

Are Food Trucks Worth the Wait?

“What line are you in? What line are you in?”  For the last couple of nights this question consumed by dreams and I can thank Truckeroo for adding this question to my collection of reoccurring dreams.

It has now been 4 days since the food truck festival and I think I’m calmed down enough to write about the experience.  I was so excited about going, but once I was there it was pretty much a disappointment.  The food trucks are lined in a U shape, and lines just go everywhere.  It was insane.  Not only were the lines going everywhere with people asking every two seconds which line people were in, the people in front of me in a few of the lines were simply rude.  They continued to have friends join them, and before long one group of two had grown to 16 friends.  Seriously?  No wonder the lines never move.

Luckily, however, I was able to cruise over to BBQ Bus and with their speedy service was able to get my delicious pulled pork sandwich and chili in about 30 minutes (which surprisingly is record time for these truckeroo lines).  The sandwich and chili made up for having to stand in line for a while – so if you have the chance, I’d be sure to try this one for lunch.  Follow them on Twitter at @bbqbusdc.

Before going to Truckeroo I posted on Facebook and Twitter that I was heading that way.  I hope those friends of mine who follow me were able to go and check out the festival for themselves – I’m sure it was a blast for other less hungry people.  Feel free to continue following me and I’ll be sure to post where I’m heading and the updates of where the trucks are heading. You can begin following me now by clicking the icons above!

I’m also currently trying to set this page up to where some of my favorite food truck twitter accounts can automatically populate onto this blog.  I have seen it done on other pages, and I’m sure that with a little more time I can set mine up too!  Be sure to follow me, as well as the trucks that I’ll be linking to – for updated information about your favorite food trucks and food truck blogger (me)!

Final note – I was disappointed about not being able to try TaKorean BBQ yet – I heard they are amazing tacos, and they are the reason I joined Twitter.  So I have to ask – are they worth the 2 hour wait in line?  Let me know in the comments below – and if you haven’t tried them yet, do you think you’d wait?